Gearing up

New Delhi, May 28: The much-awaited Honda sedan, the Civic, is set to roll down the Indian roads in the next 2-3 months.

“You may see the Civic in the next two to three months. The car will have a high localisation content,” said a senior official of Honda Siel Cars India, a subsidiary of Japanese Honda Motor.

Riding the City and Accord, Honda has cornered a sizeable market share in India.

The Civic will be placed between these two models and pitted against the Toyota Corolla and Skoda Octavia.

With a 1.8-litre 140-bhp engine, the sedan will target buyers from the C and lower D segments.

It will sport a price tag between Rs 10.5 lakh and Rs 13 lakh for the two variants.

To start production of the Civic at its manufacturing facility in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh, the company has advanced its expansion plans.

The deadline to ramp up its production capacity from 50,000 units to 1 lakh units per annum has been shortened by three years to 2007 from 2010.

In November 2005, the company had invested Rs 150 crore to increase the capacity from 30,000 units to 50,000 per annum.

Honda has set a target of selling about 1,000 Civics in a month.

At the auto expo held earlier this year, the car-maker showcased the Civic along with other two cars ? the hybrid vehicle Insight and the fuel-cell powered FCX.

Speculation is rife that Honda Siel is actively looking at entering the small-car market, and might beat rival Toyota Motors in doing so.

At present, small cars comprise 80 per cent of the passenger car market in the country.